Hidalgo County has New Advocate for Levees: Gov. Rick Perry

Hidalgo County officials met with Gov. Rick Perry last week in Austin to brief him about the condition of the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission’s river levees hoping to gain an important ally in the fight for much needed federal funding. Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas III Commissioner Hector “Tito” Palacios and Hidalgo County Drainage District Director Godfrey Garza presented a proposal for a hydraulic structure that would protect citizens from flood waters while at the same help the U.S. Border Patrol protect the homeland.

At that meeting Gov. Rick Perry announced privately that he was “on board” but now the governor has publicly shown his support for Hidalgo County’s plan. In a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Perry writes that he believes it “would be appropriate to examine very closely the proposal to combine levee remediation with the SBInet border fence.”

The governor states he is opposed to the construction of the fence and continues by saying “It is imperative that the IBWC levees be rehabilitated as soon as possible to provide effective flood control to over one million United States residents of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the approach advocated by the local officials may afford a practical way to achieve that end.”

“It feels great to know that the top elected official in the state of Texas is on board with us. This letter shows that our views about the construction of the border wall and the need to fix our levees is in sync” said Judge Salinas. “The governor even called us up to Austin again this week to put together a work group to see how the state could take action on our dire levee situation. Let the federal government see this as a sign that the whole state knows we need levees and not walls on the border.”

“This is a common sense plan the governor is endorsing” said Commissioner Palacios. “The hydraulic structure will keep us safe from nature and man and keep our economy going strong. We thank the governor for his public support.”